The aim of this paper is to study the plasma plume created during KrF laser ablation of Al2O3-TiC targets in order to gain a better insight on the ablation process of this ceramic composite. Time resolved optical emission spectroscopy was carried out in the 300-800 am range, with a high-resolution spectrometer coupled to an ICCD camera. The spatially and temporally resolved distributions of the Light emitted by different species in the plasma, such as Al I at 396.15 nm, Al H at 358.65 nm, Al III at 360.15 nm, Ti I at 498.17 nm, Ti II at 390.06 nm and O I at 777.19 nm, were investigated. The spectroscopic data is correlated with the change of the surface morphology and composition previously observed in the UV pulsed laser micromachining of this material. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.